Section 179A Housing Developments

The Planning and Development and Foreshore (Amendment) Act 2022 inserted Section 179A into the Planning and Development Act 2000 in order to streamline and accelerate the delivery of social, affordable and cost-rental housing under the Housing for All plan. Section 179A provides an exemption for local authorities from the ‘Part 8’ local authority “own development” approval process and specifies exempted development status for the provision of specified forms of housing developments on designated State lands.

Section 179A requires a Chief Executive to inform the elected members of a local authority of proposed housing developments which it is intended to progress under the exemption as well as to give public notice and enable public inspection of the proposals in a prescribed manner.

This new provision, which is a temporary time-limited measure to help expedite the provision of housing by local authorities in the context of the need to accelerate the delivery of housing supply, will be mandatory for local authorities in strictly defined circumstances where the following criteria are satisfied:

• the land is owned by the local authority or another specified State Body;
• the land is zoned for residential development;
• the proposed development does not materially contravene the development plan or local area plan for the area;
• the proposed development is in accordance with the relevant local authority’s housing strategy;
• the land is serviced or will be serviced with the necessary supporting infrastructure or facilities within the timeframe of the development;
• the proposed development is not required to undergo environmental impact assessment (EIA) under the EIA Directive or appropriate assessment (AA) under the Habitats Directive; and
• the development works in question are commenced by no later than 31 December 2024.

It is important to note that the key role of elected members in setting the overarching framework for the development of their local area through the adoption of the development plan, associated zoning objectives and the adoption of the local housing strategy is not impacted by these temporary arrangements. The elected members will also retain their "Part 8" approval powers for all other forms of local authority own development proposals i.e. roads, bridges, waste facilities, swimming pools, fire stations, libraries, any other development works with a cost exceeding €126,000 etc. Any local authority housing proposals that are not commenced by 31 December 2024 will require "Part 8" approval by the elected members in the normal manner.